Can This Be Redeemed Too?

Back in my bible school days, I found employment as a librarian just so I had some spending money.

And as all librarians have to do, I spent most of my time putting books back on the shelves and reorganizing the books when students didn’t put them back in the correct place.

The job wasn’t overly exciting, but it did have its moments.

One of those moments was when I found this book.

You don’t even have to read this book to know what it is about.

Judge this book by the cover and you’ll probably get it right.

This author whole heartedly beileves that rock and roll music is of the devil and that it has no place in the Christian church or community.

While this is an old book, there are still some people that believe that today.

They may be the minority, but they are out there.

I believe that the majority of Christians do not think this way any more. Music has changed and evolved over the decades. It is not so much the style that is in question, but the content. And that is a totally fine discussion. Talk about content of music all you want, because for me, I love rock and roll.

That was what I listened to when I was growing up, rock and roll, punk, some heavy metal was thrown into the mix when I had a really bad day. All of it Christian, but rock and roll. And it was only a part of my musical pallet.  The trusted country, folk and gospel where still there for me to listen to as well.

When I saw that anti rock and roll book, it didn’t make me angry or upset, but rather firmed my resolve about rock and roll music. I love it because of the wild rhythm guitars, the pounding bass line and the mad crashing and smashing of drums. I love it because the sound of it often expressed something that I couldn’t put into words. But I also loved rock and roll music because it was redeemed.

I am no historian. Rock and Rock could have been started as a part of the demonic culture. Rhythm guitars, bass and drums could have been used in the church of Satan, but it isn’t that way any more.

Rock and Roll has been changed. It was been covered in grace and now used for the glory of God. Rock and Roll has been redeemed.

A man named Larry Norman once said,

Why should the devil have all the good music?

And he was absolutely right.

Why can’t this hard rhythm style of guitar playing be used to further the Kingdom of God?

Why can’t the pounding bass line be an anthem for the Children of the King?

Why can’t the mad smashing and crashing of the drums be glorifying to the God that created music?

And since the days of Larry Norman, rock and roll has been used for God.

A lot of Larry Norman’s music would later be played by the hugely influential Christian Band, DC Talk.

From there, the rock and roll bands started to sprout up everywhere.

Just to name a few of my personal favorites there is: Relient K, Hawk Nelson, RED, Underoath, Emery. These are all bands that come into existence because someone thought that rock and roll was worth redeeming. That it was something that could be redeemed. That rock and roll was something that could be used for the glory of God.

Now, shift gears with me.

What about yoga?

Can yoga be redeemed?

Is there a place in the church for yoga like there is for rock and roll?

Photo: GO INTERACTIVE WELLNESS

I know some Christians that will immediately jump up from their seats on reading this and say, “NO! Yoga cannot be redeemed.”

“Yoga is a demonic practice that has no place in the Church of God!”

Now for those that do not know, yoga does have its origins in non-Christ based religions, namely Buddhism and Hinduism.

People often throw around Scripture like 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 (NIV) and say this is how we are living that out.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

And on some level I understand and agree with them that we shouldn’t be practicing this sort of thing in our churches.

But what about redemption?

Is yoga so evil, so full of Satan that there is nothing good in it?

Is it so far gone that Jesus could not turn it around and use it for our good and His glory?

Because it happened with rock and roll, why not yoga?

To me, it is very interesting this thing called redemption. Christians experience it, we live it out, having been stained by sin until Jesus washed us clean. Christians teach it, that everything in the world will one day be renewed, bad will become good. Everything will be redeemed back to the one Saviour and Creator God.

But our practice is questionable when it comes to redemption.

Some churches just cannot forgive or believe that a sinner can be changed by the love and power of Christ.

Some Christians will preach redemption is the only way, that grace and love should be on our lips and in our actions. But when they step down from the podium, damnation and vengeance are the things that they live  out.

That shouldn’t be the case. We are supposed to be a people marked by our love (John 13:35).

We are supposed to be a people that reflect the life of Christ, a life that was all about the redemption of the bad, the changing into good by love and grace.

We did it for rock and roll.

Can we do it for yoga?

Are we supposed to?

Now, I offer no rule, no decision because I am still working through this notion of redemption towards yoga. So I’m looking for some input.

What do you believe?

No redemption for yoga – why and how do you support that?

Yes redemption for yoga – why and what does that look like?

Let me know in the comment section below.